


Shelter

by jrench



Category: Smosh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:42:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23684083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jrench/pseuds/jrench
Summary: Shayne and Damien have a video-call dinner and enjoy each other's company.
Kudos: 23





	Shelter

Shayne wished he could start a garden. He imagines it- two beds, one for the front yard and one for the back, flowers in the front and vegetables in the back. A house with a staircase right in the middle, hardwood floors. And the Shayne in the dream takes off his shoes outside the front door (glass, see through) and just tosses them aside, and the dream Shayne is mid-laugh with a huge smile, coming through the door loudly. His eyes begin to wander around the house, looking for someone.

Shayne brings his fingers up to massage his eyes, and appreciates the cold on his eyelids. 

Eventually he looked up at the time- 6:55pm, still a few minutes before he’s supposed to zoom chat with Damien.

Shayne is cutting up tomatoes for dinner when his phone lights up-

 **Message** :  
_Hey! Are you free before 7:30? I finished up early over here_

Shayne wiped his hands on a towel and smiled at his phone.

 **Message** :  
_Yeah for sure! I’m making dinner rn, we could do a kitchen call?_

While he waited for a reply, Shayne went to grab a dark blue apron from the drawer, so he could look classy, and turned on some r&b for the hell of it.

 **Message** :  
_Woah I love that idea! Could you set up the call and send me the link?_

 **Message** :  
_You got it_

Shayne got on the call immediately. He just danced around the kitchen, the sound of oil popping on the stove behind him mixed with the chill jams.

“Hey there my man!” Damien’s voice called out behind him.

Shayne turned, and saw Damien standing in his badly lit kitchen, hunched over the laptop with a sleeveless shirt on.

“Hey! Good to see you,” Shayne laughed, “Having trouble with the audio?”

“Nah, it’s all good, I was trying to change to gallery before my hands got dirty,”

“Ah gotcha,” Shayne leaned over his laptop, and let the noise of his house float through the microphone.

“Woah,” Damien chuckled, “Sounds like a party over there,”

“Oh yeah,” Shayne stepped back and exaggerated a dance to the music, mostly in his hips, “Just letting the music take me,”

He looked back to the laptop to check for a reaction, and Damien was doing his own little dance, just shimmying his shoulders. Shayne let out a laugh.

“So what have you been up to man?” Shayne turned halfway to check on the stove.

“Dude,” Damien sighed, suddenly looking tired, “I think quarantine is actually busier than the regular workweek.”

“Yeah?” Shayne waited.

“It’s like…” Damien started buttering a frying pan, “There are still certain times every day where I need to check my email or be a person enough to be on a work video call, but they always feel out of place I guess?”

“Because time doesn’t make sense?” 

“Yeah exactly,” Damien had his head down, thinking, “It’s been almost a month and it still feels like everything is suspended in a bubble, you know?”

“I think I get what you’re saying. That’s why I’m really glad we have these calls, it gives me some structure,” Shayne has his eyes on the pan, steaming vegetables, “and I need that.”

“Same here, man,” He hears from his laptop speakers, then they both stay quiet for a minute “What’re you making for dinner?”

“Uhh,” Shayne starts, “It’s not really a recipe, I just put some vegetables in a pan and heat them up and then make chicken to go with it,” He turns to the screen and lifts up the pan, “Tonight it’s spinach and cherry tomatoes,”

“Ah, classic! I should eat some more vegetables, honestly I haven’t been eating too great lately,”

“Makes sense,” Shayne keeps an eye on Damien, “but I think, like, personally, it’s okay to give yourself some slack. Everything is weird these days, right? It’s hard enough to get up and put pants on. Especially,” 

Shayne turns off the stove and moves the pan to cool, “Especially since you’re having a hard time in general,”

“Yeah that makes sense,” Damien starts immediately, “I just don’t want to get shut away and become a recluse with a big beard because I refused to shave and exercise,”

“No really,” Shayne stops him, “A worldwide pandemic isn’t a time to try to be the most productive version of yourself. You’re already trying to adjust to a completely new schedule, as well as having a roommate around basically all the time. You don’t need to be thinking about losing weight or whatever else on top of all that,”

“Okay,” Damien stops going through his fridge, settling on a microwavable burrito, “I know, like, technically. Hmm.” He takes a second, “I know that sounds technically like it makes sense, and it does, but it’s hard not to get in my head about it,”

“Yeah, I’m sorry man, I didn’t mean to be rude,” Shayne smiles and tries to laugh a bit.

“No you’re all good! I really appreciate you caring,” 

Damien gets a plate and some silverware out of the cabinet. And they end up quiet for a minute or two, Shayne can’t tell. He grabs a bowl, empties the pan of vegetables into it, and adds salt and pepper while he waits for the chicken in the oven to finish.

“I like your apron, by the way,”

Shayne smiles and laughs, “Thanks! I got it when I moved in here, but I don’t use it very often when I cook,”

“You look so put together, I feel like I’m watching a cooking show,” Damien takes a big bite of his burrito and laughs a bit, “Or like a YouTube channel or something,”

Shayne claps his hands, “Alright guys, today we’re gonna be making a quarantine favorite, What Can I Pass Off As A Meal? Today’s challenge ingredient are cherry tomatoes you bought weeks ago, but haven’t used yet,”

“Damn, so relatable. I’m sold,”

“Just wait until you see next week’s challenge- buying enough eggs to last a week while trying to go to as few stores as possible,”

“Oh dammit! Yeah that’s crazy,” Damien laughs, “I’ve switched to cereal in the mornings, it’s just easier,”

In a few minutes, Shayne is sitting in front of the laptop, trying to put together the perfect bite of food on his fork, and Damien is putting his empty plate in the dishwasher. When Damien sits back down, he sighs.

“This is all really starting to take a toll on me,” he starts.

Shayne keeps his eyes on him, while still eating. He doesn’t make a move to speak.

“Mark is great and all, really,” Damien moves his fingers to massage his face, and keeps his head in his hands for a few seconds.

“I want to say it’s because I’m cooped up, or because work has been stressful, or because of sleep or scheduling or something. But it’s kind of everything?” He tries to laugh, and looks back at the screen, “I miss you, man,”

Shayne lets it sit for a minute, “I really miss you too. This isn’t forever,”

“And,” Shayne takes a deep breath, “I’m not really far away! Lord knows I’m not leaving my house to do anything but jog, so I’m usually right next to my phone. If you need to call,”

“Thanks man,” Damien smiles a bit, “Are you busy tonight?”

“Nah, not really,” Shayne said. Technically, he wasn’t-cleaning the apartment can wait for tomorrow.

“Cool,” Damien nodded his head, “Then do you wanna hang out for a bit? We can do whatever, I just don’t really want to be in my room by myself right now,”

“Yeah sure, of course,” Shayne nodded, taking another bite, “Do you wanna watch a movie or something?”

“Not really, I think I’ve done enough of mindless screens for today,” He picks up his laptop and Shayne knows he’s going back to his room, “I would rather do something with a real person, that doesn’t make my body feel in a separate space and time from my mind,”

“Haha yeah I totally get that,”

“Maybe,” Damien plopped onto his stomach on his bed, “Would you be down to just talk for a while?”

“Sure thing,” Shayne wiped his mouth and got up start cleaning the kitchen, “Want me to go first?”

Damien nodded his head, and Shayne started talking about what his quarantine schedule was, and what books he was reading, and how his workouts were, and how shaggy his hair was getting, and feeling crazy for checking his phone so often during the day, and feeling like he wasn’t able to focus on reading anything, and on and on. Damien sat on his bed and smiled, listening.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to @shaymiens on tumblr for helping me brainstorm!


End file.
